The Miami Heat don’t have time for the concerns of opponents, even as opponents have arrived to FTX Arena over the past week significantly undermanned.
That’s because the Heat also don’t have time to lament their own injuries and illness.
Again making the best of a short-handed situation, the Heat extended their home winning streak to six with a 119-112 victory Tuesday night over the Washington Wizards.
Yes, the Wizards were without Bradley Beal, Montrezl Harrell and other featured components, as COVID-19 rips through their roster, but it’s not as if Erik Spoelstra’s team is anywhere close to whole.
So on a day Max Strus and Udonis Haslem joined Kyle Lowry in health and safety protocols, and with Bam Adebayo, P.J. Tucker Dewayne Dedmon and others injured, the Heat played the best of their remaining hand to their eighth victory in their past 10 games.
With Jimmy Butler setting the tone early on the way to 25 points, a career-high 15 assists and eight rebounds, Tyler Herro sparking the bench with 32 points, and Duncan Robinson regaining his 3-point stroke in a 26-point effort, the Heat headed off on a seven-game trip on a winning note.
“It show[s] how much depth we have,” Herro said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys here ready to step up with the next-man-up mentality.”
With center Omer Yurtseven making it six consecutive games with double-digit rebounds, with 13 rebounds and 10 points, the Heat pushed their lead to 28 early in the third quarter and held on from there amid a furious closing charge by the Wizards.
Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday’s game:
1. Short vs. shorter: Both teams went into the game with nine available players, one above the minimum required to play.
With Strus pulled due to COVID-19 protocols shortly before the opening tip, Caleb Martin was moved into a Heat lineup that already featured Yurtseven and Gabe Vincent as emergency starters.
The Wizards’ roster situation, with Beal still in protocols, included the utilization of 10-day addition Alize Johnson, who arrived in South Florida at 4 p.m.
2. Taking charge: After the Heat’s first six shots came from beyond the arc, Butler took charge, with 12 points, four assists and four rebounds in an opening period that ended with the Heat up 38-24.
Butler was up to 14 points, six assists and five rebounds by halftime.
With Lowry out, Butler returned to the playmaking style adopted before Lowry was acquired in the offseason.
But when the Wizards closed the gap late Butler consistently stepped up with needed jumpers.
3. One-man bench: With the Heat bench reduced to Herro, KZ Okpala, Marcus Garrett and 10-day addition Zylan Cheatham, Herro took charge with the second unit.
Herro closed the scoring in the first quarter with a 3-pointer and kept going from there, up to 20 points at halftime, when the Heat held a 65-51 lead.
4. Robinson comes around: After a pair of uneven shooting games, when he went 0 for 6 against the Detroit Pistons and 2 of 9 against the Orlando Magic, Robinson was up to 12 points at the intermission, at 4 of 8 on 3-pointers.
He then went on a one-man 11-0 scoring streak early in the third quarter to stake the Heat to a 76-55 lead.
Robinson was up to a season-high seven 3-pointers at that stage. Robinson had converted two or fewer 3-pointers in four of his five previous appearances.
5. He’s No. 25: With the victory, Spoelstra moved ahead of Doug Moe and into sole possession of 25th place on the NBA’s all-time regular-season coaching victories list, at 629.
Next up is No. 24 Chuck Daly, at 638.
Spoelstra reached his 629 in his 14th season, the same amount of seasons Daly reached his total. Moe’s total came in 15 seasons.
Heat President Pat Riley is fifth on the all-time list, at 1,210 regular-season coaching victories over 24 seasons.
Among active coaches, Spoelstra ranks fifth, behind, in order, Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers, Rick Carlisle and Nate McMillian, each with more than 700 regular-season victories.
